System and method for programmatically generating a graphical program in response to program information

• US 7,210,117 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2000
• Issued: 04/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Kodosky, Jeffrey L., Wenzel, Lothar, Dye, Robert E., Kudukoli, Ram, Austin, Paul F.
• Primary Examiner(s): An; Meng-Al T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kang; Insun
• Application Number:
  US09/745,023
• Publication Number:
  US 20010020291A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,316 Days
• Field of Search: 717/109, 717/125, 717/104, 717/100, 717/127, 717/103, 717/105, 717/7, 717/107, 717/116, 717/113, 703/2, 709/318, 704/9, 345/771, 345/763, 434/118, 716/4, 712/220, 715/762, 715/967
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23008 Computer aided software engineering, program generation, case tools, CASE
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23258 GUI graphical user interface, icon, function bloc editor, labview
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/40099 Graphical user interface for robotics, visual robot user interface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 25/043 using rotating discs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/967 Visual or iconic programming

Abstract

A system and method for programmatically generating a graphical program or a portion of a graphical program in response to receiving program information is disclosed. During execution of a graphical program generation (GPG) program, the GPG program receives program information specifying functionality of the graphical program to be generated. In one embodiment the program information does not specify specific nodes in the graphical program or connections among the nodes. In response to the program information, the GPG program programmatically generates a graphical program (or graphical program portion) that implements the specified functionality.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for automatically generating a new graphical program, comprising:

executing a graphical program generation (GPG) program;

the GPG program receiving information, wherein the information specifies functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the information does not specify specific objects for the new graphical program; and

the GPG program automatically generating the new graphical program in response to said information specifying the functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the new graphical program implements the specified functionality, and wherein the new graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate the functionality of the new graphical program;

wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program is performed without direct user input specifying the new graphical program.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program is performed without direct user input selecting the plurality of nodes and without direct user input specifying the interconnections between the plurality of nodes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the new graphical program comprises a block diagram portion comprising the plurality of interconnected nodes and a user interface portion;

and

wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program includes automatically generating the block diagram portion and the user interface portion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program comprises:

creating a plurality of graphical program objects in the new graphical program; and

interconnecting the plurality of graphical program objects in the new graphical program;

wherein the interconnected plurality of graphical program objects comprise at least a portion of the new graphical program.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program comprises:

creating one or more user interface objects in the new graphical program, wherein the one or more user interface objects perform one or more of providing input to or displaying output from the new graphical program.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein the new graphical program is a virtual instrument.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the GPG program is a graphical program.

8. The method of claim 1,

wherein the information received by the GPG program specifies a computational process;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate a new graphical program that implements the specified computational process.

9. The method of claim 1,

wherein the information received by the GPG program specifies an algorithm;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate a new graphical program that implements the specified algorithm.

10. The method of claim 1,

wherein the information received by the GPG program specifies a state diagram;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate a new graphical program that implements the specified state diagram.

11. The method of claim 1,

wherein the information received by the GPG program specifies a prototype;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate a new graphical program that implements the specified prototype.

12. The method of claim 1,

wherein the information received by the GPG program specifies a test executive sequence;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate a new graphical program that implements the specified test executive sequence.

13. The method of claim 1,

wherein said GPG program receiving information comprises the GPG program receiving user input specifying desired functionality of the new graphical program;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate a new graphical program that implements the specified desired functionality.

14. The method of claim 13,

wherein the GPG program comprises a graphical programming development environment application.

15. The method of claim 1,

wherein the information received by the GPG program specifies an instrumentation function;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate a new graphical program that implements the specified instrumentation function.

16. The method of claim 15,

wherein the instrumentation function comprises one or more of:

a test and measurement function;

or

an industrial automation function.

17. The method of claim 1,

wherein the information received by the GPG program comprises information regarding an existing program having program functionality;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate a new graphical program that implements at least a portion of the program functionality of the existing program.

18. The method of claim 17,

wherein the existing program is a graphical program.

19. The method of claim 1,

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate a plurality of new graphical programs, depending on the received information.

20. The method of claim 1,

wherein the new graphical program generated by the GPG program has program functionality;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to determine at least a portion of the program functionality independently of the received information.

21. The method of claim 1,

wherein the GPG program is operable to generate the new graphical program such that the new graphical program implements additional functionality in addition to the functionality specified by the received information.

22. The method of claim 1,

wherein the new graphical program comprises graphical program code;

and

wherein the GPG program is operable to receive code generation information specifying how to generate at least a portion of the graphical program code.

23. The method of claim 1,

wherein said GPG program automatically generating the new graphical program comprises the GPG program calling an application programming interface (API) enabling the automatic generation of a graphical program.

24. The method of claim 1,

wherein said GPG program automatically generating the new graphical program comprises the GPG program automatically requesting a server program to generate the new graphical program.

25. The method of claim 24,

wherein the server program is an application instance of a graphical programming environment.

26. The method of claim 1,

wherein the GPG program comprises a client portion and a server portion;

and

wherein the client portion is operable to utilize an application programming interface (API) in order to direct the server program to automatically generate the new graphical program.

27. The method of claim 26,

wherein the client portion of the GPG program executes in a first computer system;

wherein the server portion of the GPG program executes in a second computer system; and

wherein the first computer system is connected to the second computer system.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the new graphical program;

wherein the new graphical program is operable to perform the specified functionality during execution.

29. The method of claim 1,

wherein the new graphical program implements only a portion of the specified functionality.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the new graphical program is a partial program, the method further comprising:

adding additional graphical code to the new graphical program, in response to manual user input, in order to complete the new graphical program.

31. The method of claim 1,

wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program comprises including at least one graphical program object in the new graphical program.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the new graphical program includes a block diagram, wherein the at least one graphical program object comprises a function node placed in the block diagram.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the new graphical program includes a block diagram, wherein the at least one graphical program object comprises a automatic structure placed in the block diagram.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the new graphical program includes a user interface panel, wherein the at least one graphical program object comprises a user interface object placed in the user interface panel.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the user interface object is a user interface input object placed in the user interface panel for performing one or more of:

viewing input to the new graphical program;

or providing input to the new graphical program.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the user interface object is a user interface output object placed in the user interface panel for viewing output of the new graphical program.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the new graphical program also includes a block diagram, wherein the user interface object is a user interface input object placed in the user interface panel for performing one or more of:

viewing input to the block diagram;

or providing input to the new graphical program.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein the new graphical program also includes a block diagram, wherein the user interface object is a user interface output object placed in the user interface panel for viewing output from the block diagram.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program comprises:

including a first graphical program object and a second graphical program object in the new graphical program; and

connecting the first graphical program object to the second graphical program object.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said connecting the first graphical program object to the second graphical program object comprises connecting an input of the first graphical program object to an output of the second graphical program object.

41. The method of claim 1,

wherein the GPG program is a graphical program;

wherein the GPG program includes at least one object creation node for automatically creating at least one graphical program object in the new graphical program; and

wherein said generating the new graphical program comprises including the at least one graphical program object in the new graphical program.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the GPG program further includes a property node, the method further comprising:

the property node getting or setting a property of the graphical program object in response to said executing the GPG program.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the object creation node outputs a reference to the graphical program object;

wherein the property node receives the reference as input to the graphical program object; and

wherein the property node gets or sets a property of the graphical program object specified by the reference to the graphical program object.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein the GPG program further includes an invoke node;

the method further comprising;

the invoke node invoking a method on the graphical program object in response to said executing the GPG program.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the object creation node outputs a reference to the graphical program object;

wherein the invoke node receives as input the reference to the graphical program object; and

wherein the invoke node invokes a method on the graphical program object specified by the reference to the graphical program object.

46. The method of claim 41, further comprising:

configuring the object creation node of the GPG program;

wherein said configuring comprises specifying a graphical program object class for the object creation node; and

wherein the at least one graphical program object included in the new graphical program is of the graphical program object class.

47. The method of claim 1,

wherein the GPG program is a graphical program;

and

wherein the GPG program includes a graphical program creation node for automatically creating the new graphical program.

48. A computer-implemented method for automatically modifying an existing graphical program, comprising:

executing a GPG program;

the GPG program receiving information during program execution, wherein the information specifies functionality to add to the existing graphical program, wherein the information does not specify specific objects to add to the existing graphical program;

the GPG program automatically modifying the existing graphical program in order to implement the specified functionality, in response to receiving the information, wherein the existing graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate the specified functionality of the existing graphical program;

wherein said automatically modifying the existing graphical program modifies the existing graphical program without direct user input specifying the modification to the existing graphical program during said modifying.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein said automatically modifying the existing graphical program modifies the existing graphical program without direct user input specifying modification to the plurality of nodes and without direct user input specifying modification to the interconnections between the plurality of nodes.

50. The method of claim 48,

wherein said modifying the existing graphical program comprises adding graphical code to the existing graphical program.

51. The method of claim 48,

wherein said receiving information during program execution comprises receiving user input specifying desired functionality to add to the existing graphical program.

52. A computer-implemented method for automatically generating a new graphical program, comprising:

providing information specifying functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the information does not specify specific objects for the new graphical program;

executing a graphical program generation (GPG) program;

the GPG program automatically generating the new graphical program using said information, wherein the new graphical program implements the specified functionality, and wherein the new graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate the functionality of the new graphical program;

wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program creates the new graphical program without direct user input specifying the new graphical program.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program creates the new graphical program without direct user input selecting the plurality of nodes and without direct user input specifying the interconnections between the nodes.

54. A memory medium for automatically generating a new graphical program, the memory medium comprising program instructions executable to:

receive information, wherein the information specifies functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the information does not specify specific objects for the new graphical program;

automatically generate the new graphical program in response to said information specifying the functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the new graphical program implements the specified functionality, wherein the new graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate the functionality of the new graphical program, and wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program creates the new graphical program without direct user input specifying the new graphical program.

55. The memory medium of claim 54, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program creates the new graphical program without direct user input selecting the plurality of nodes and without direct user input specifying the interconnections between the nodes.

56. The memory medium of claim 54, wherein the new graphical program comprises a block diagram portion comprising the plurality of interconnected nodes and a user interface portion;

wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program includes generating the block diagram portion and the user interface portion.

61. The memory medium of claim 54, wherein, in automatically generating the new graphical program, the program instructions are executable to:

automatically create a plurality of graphical program objects in the new graphical program; and

automatically interconnect the plurality of graphical program objects in the new graphical program;

wherein the interconnected plurality of graphical program objects comprise at least a portion of the new graphical program.

62. The memory medium of claim 54, wherein, in automatically generating the new graphical program, the program instructions are executable to:

automatically create one or more user interface objects in the new graphical program, wherein the one or more user interface objects perform one or more of providing input to or displaying output from the new graphical program.

63. The memory medium of claim 54,

wherein the new graphical program implements a measurement function.

64. The memory medium of claim 54, wherein, in receiving information, the program instructions are executable to:

receive user input specifying desired functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the generated new graphical program implements the specified desired functionality.

65. The memory medium of claim 54,

wherein said receiving and said generating are performed by a graphical programming development environment application.

66. The memory medium of claim 54,

wherein the received information comprises information regarding an existing program having program functionality;

and

wherein the generated new graphical program implements at least a portion of the program functionality of the existing program.

67. The memory medium of claim 54, wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

automatically generate a plurality of new graphical programs, depending on the received information.

68. The memory medium of claim 54,

wherein the generated new graphical program implements additional functionality in addition to the functionality specified by the received information.

69. The memory medium of claim 54,

wherein the new graphical program implements only a portion of the specified functionality.

70. The memory medium of claim 54, wherein the new graphical program is a partial program, and wherein the program instructions are further executable to:

add additional graphical code to the new graphical program in response to manual user input in order to complete the new graphical program.

57. A system for automatically generating a new graphical program, the system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory, wherein the memory stores a graphical program generation (GPG) program;

wherein the processor is operable to execute the GPG program in order to;

receive information specifying functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the information does not specify specific objects for the new graphical program; and

automatically generate the new graphical program in response to said information specifying the functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the new graphical program implements the specified functionality, and wherein the new graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate the functionality of the new graphical program, and wherein the new graphical program is automatically generated without direct user input specifying the new graphical program.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program creates the new graphical program without direct user input selecting the plurality of nodes and without direct user input specifying the interconnections between the nodes.

59. The system of claim 57, wherein the new graphical program comprises a block diagram portion comprising the plurality of interconnected nodes and a user interface portion;

wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program includes generating the block diagram portion and the user interface portion.

60. The system of claim 57, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program comprises:

creating a plurality of graphical program objects in the new graphical program without direct user input specifying the plurality of graphical program objects; and

interconnecting the plurality of graphical program objects in the new graphical program without direct user input specifying the interconnections between the nodes;

wherein the interconnected plurality of graphical program objects comprise at least a portion of the new graphical program.

71. A computer-implemented method for automatically generating a new graphical program, comprising:

receiving information, wherein the information specifies functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the information does not specify specific objects for the new graphical program; and

automatically generating the new graphical program in response to said information specifying the functionality of the new graphical program, wherein the new graphical program implements the specified functionality, and wherein the new graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate the functionality of the new graphical program;

wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program is performed without direct user input including the plurality of nodes or connecting the plurality of nodes.

72. The method of claim 71, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program comprises:

automatically creating a plurality of graphical program objects in the new graphical program; and

automatically interconnecting the plurality of graphical program objects in the new graphical program;

wherein the interconnected plurality of graphical program objects comprise at least a portion of the new graphical program.

73. The method of claim 71, wherein said automatically generating the new graphical program comprises:

automatically creating one or more user interface objects in the new graphical program, wherein the one or more user interface objects perform one or more of providing input to or displaying output from the new graphical program.

74. The method of claim 71,

wherein the new graphical program implements a measurement function.

75. The method of claim 71,

wherein said receiving information comprises receiving user input specifying desired functionality of the new graphical program;

and

wherein the generated new graphical program implements the specified desired functionality.

76. The method of claim 71,

wherein said receiving and said generating are performed by a graphical programming development environment application.

77. The method of claim 71,

wherein the received information comprises information regarding an existing program having program functionality;

and

wherein the generated new graphical program implements at least a portion of the program functionality of the existing program.

78. The method of claim 71, further comprising:

automatically generating a plurality of new graphical programs, depending on the received information.

79. The method of claim 71,

wherein the generated new graphical program implements additional functionality in addition to the functionality specified by the received information.

80. The method of claim 71,

wherein the new graphical program implements only a portion of the specified functionality.

81. The method of claim 71, wherein the new graphical program is a partial program, the method further comprising:

adding additional graphical code to the new graphical program, in response to manual user input, in order to complete the new graphical program.